Medical workers suspend planned strike pending talks
Medical workers in the country yesterday suspended their planned strike for the next 21 days to allow salary negotiations to take place.
Kenya National Union of Nurses secretary General (KNUN) Seth Panyako said the government had reached out to them last Friday and expressed optimism that a middle ground would be reached on the issue.
However, the workers said the suspension is on condition that should the government not live up to its part of the bargain, they will revert to their planned industrial action.
In a statement, Panyako said: “The government should be steadfast in addressing the plight of medical workers and it appears that it is mostly preoccupied with eradicating Covid-19 at the expense of other burning issues.”
KNUN’s comes a few days after the Ministry of Health said it has entered into talks with union officials representing health workers to avert a looking strike set to begin today.
While giving the daily update last week on Thursday, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr Mercy Mwangangi said the ministry was aware of the critical role the health workers were playing and promised to ensure their concerns were addressed urgently.
The workers have been accusing the national and county governments of sidelining them during this period of the Coronavirus pandemic pointing out that they were yet to benefit from the special allowances allocated to their colleagues.
